The Wellbeing of Women in Entrepreneurship

13 Why women entrepreneurs undertake lower radical growth modalities than do men

The imprinting phenomenon

Séverine Le Loarne–Lemaire

1 Introduction

The past experiences of entrepreneurs – their education and work experience and the networks they have built – influence how they set up their companies (Ferriani, Cattani, & Baden-Fuller, 2009). Entrepreneurial processes are path-dependent; although entrepreneurs’ experiences affect their identification of opportunities, the sensitive period during creation influences the way founders see and think about the world and how they forge expectations about their businesses (Politis, 2005). This phenomenon is called ‘imprinting’; it explains how individuals develop characteristics from experiences during ...